


~A Page to Be Turned~

by faraboverubies22



Category: Love Island (TV), Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 00:29:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20537183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faraboverubies22/pseuds/faraboverubies22
Summary: Following Day 22's recoupling, you are still not coupled up with Noah, the man you've fallen hard for these past couple of weeks. However, that all might change once a life-altering confrontation with him ensues by the daybed, only a day after the coupling. Secrets are revealed, skeletons come out of the closet, and a big-time surprise hits the Villa like never before. Find out what happens when you read. . .~A Page to Be Turned~





	~A Page to Be Turned~

** At The Daybed/ A Day After The Recent Recoupling **

  
You find a spot on the daybed and sit down, your mind running on overdrive. _How am I going to win Noah over?_ you think to yourself, feeling a slight breeze graze your face.  
Almost immediately, you are taken out of your reverie by the sound of footsteps.  
Not just any footsteps, however.

Noah comes from around the corner and doesn't notice you at first. You notice him, though. Of course, you do. You always notice him.  
He looks... different. This recent recoupling has had everyone in a doozy, and you for one, are feeling every ounce of it.  
Noah lingers by the pool, his back facing you. He looks up to the sky for a moment, and then looks into the clarity of the water beneath him.  
Your eyes fill with admiration for him.. your heart strings being tugged.. _God dammit, Noah, NOTICE ME BACK_!  
And, as if he heard all the passion and frustration from your thoughts, Noah turns around. He sees you.. for who you are. And who he is to you.  
"_?" His voice is soft, gentle. You can feel your heart hammering in your chest. "I didn't see you, I'm sorry." He apologizes, but you already feel yourself shaking your head.  
You get up from the bed but don't move. "It's fine, don't worry about it."  
A moment of silence passes.  
His face is unreadable, as it usually is, but this time, there's something there that you can't quite place.  
"Are you okay?"  
"How are you?"  
You both laugh quietly at the in-sync questions that were asked.  
"Please, you go first," he offers, holding his arm out. You gulp down your nerves and twiddle with your bikini bottom string, suddenly realizing just how exposed you are (and feel).

His smile partly reaches his eyes, and even then, it gives you butterflies. _Talk, dammit, just say something!_, you exhale loudly and purse your lips. For some reason you cannot look him in the eyes again, so you focus on the warm pavement beneath your soles.  
"I'm okay. Just enjoying the sun, I guess." You look up from the ground.

He's closer now.

"Are you sure, _? You don't look entirely happy, if I'm being honest." He questions, genuine concern written on his face.  
Will you tell the truth or lie to him?  
You decide to tell the truth. There's no holding back now!  
You straighten up, your back cracking, and you almost feel born to do this. You gulp one more time to ensure there's room for what is about to ensue.

"N-no, I'm not okay, Noah." You admit, your voice shaky, but still strong and full of emotion. Truth.  
He looks even more concerned now. He begins to walk towards you but you hold your hands out to prevent him from getting any closer to you.  
"Listen," you say, growing even more confident as each second passes. "I need to be honest here and tell you how I've been feeling lately." He nods slowly, hanging on to every word you say.

  
"I fucking love you." You tell him.

  
There it is. And there it was. You said it. To his face. There's really no going back now.  
His eyes widen, shock covering the entirety of his face. His mouth is agape, and you regret saying anything for a brief moment. _No_, you realize,_ this is the only decision to make at this very moment. _You inhale.

"And I have loved you. I may not have known it then, but ever since I walked out and saw you on that first day, there was something in you that I saw that made me curious." Now, you can't stop, the words flowing out.  
"But you didn't see me. You didn't see me, and I tried not to be hurt. I figured that it was only day one, and you were just gauging your options," you feel tears starting to brim. You don't care.  
"So, I shrugged it off. I let it go and when Hope came out and claimed you for herself, I realized at that very moment that..." you trail off, considering if you should say this next part or not.  
"I wasn't good enough." You finally spit out. You feel your body retracting into itself... breaking down.  
"But," you stop for a moment to look at Noah. Your heart freezes. Real, actual tears have stained his face and he looks.. hurt?

_Don't stop,_ you inwardly tell yourself. _He needs to hear this._

"When I kissed you.. after you and Priya talked.. you," you start to smile.  
"You kissed me back." He mirrors the smile on your face, only faintly.  
"And I thought that maybe, just maybe, I may have been enough. I felt good!" You throw your hands in the air, and then plant them on top of your head. "I felt so damn amazing, actually. You make me feel so damn amazing, Noah." Immediately, pain hits you. Your face contorts to such a sorrowful expression and you feel your eyes go heavy, your shoulders weighing down.

"And you still picked her."

Silence.

Not even the sound of Lottie's "GIRL CODE" could be heard.

Noah looks down to the ground and for a moment, you think he's going to stay quiet. He doesn't.  
He takes a deep breath before speaking. He looks up to face you now, his face showing a look you have never seen before, ever.

"_," he says your name so perfectly. So elegantly; as if his lips were made only to speak your name.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear you say that." He continues, "that you love me." He doesn't say anything else, but moves to you, his eyes never leaving yours.

One moment you two were barely close in proximity, and now his strong arms are cascading over yours, his scent filling your nostrils and his pounding heart beating closely next to yours.  
You feel yourself lose control and tears escape your closed eyes, and he holds you. The only thing that matters is the two of you; the idea of anyone else existing in this moment is unheard of.

Now, Noah is crying. He tries to mask it, but he's failing.

"This entire time," he hiccups softly. "I-I thought I wasn't good enough for you."  
"-I didn't think you'd ever spend a measly second thinking about me." He continues, his hands running through your hair, your face resting against his hardened chest.  
"When I saw you walk outside like you were the queen of everything, I knew you were too good for me. I stuck with Hope this entire time because, honestly, _," he stops to look at you directly.  
"I thought that maybe you'd never be happy with me. You and Bobby would joke around and I would silently kill myself over it because I'm not as confident as he is. I'm a librarian who spends," his eyebrows furrow, "well, _spent_, his days reading up on World History and listening to classic vinyl's passed down from my dad." He laughs, and it cuts through the tension. You're grateful for it.

He sighs, closing his eyes. When he opens them again after a moment passes, all you can see is love in his chocolatey brown eyes.  
You don't realize it until he looks at you funny, but you're shaking your head ever so slowly. "I can't believe this," you chuckle to yourself. "I can't believe we were insecure about the same thing."

Just then, you hear someone approaching. Hope.

By instinct, you separate yourself from Noah, not wanting her to catch on to what was just happening between you and Noah. However...

Noah doesn't let you go.

Hope reaches the daybed, shocked.

"Excuse me, just what the HELL is going on here?" Her voice carries, and you sense the presence of other people nearby.  
_Oh god, how is this going to go down?!_ You start to feel yourself panicking inwardly, sweat building at your temples. You try to force yourself out of Noah's grip, but he is stronger than you.

Noah gawks at Hope with a look not to be reckoned with, and he wraps an arm around the small of your waist, refusing to let you go.

"I-I'm not going to allow you to control me again, Hope." His voice is steady. Raw. Genuine. This is it...

Hope steps back, her face scrunching up in pure disgust. She yells at the both of you once more, "Excuse me?!" Pain, shock and confusion continues to riddle her face.  
In the distance, you see Marisol, Lottie, Gary and Rahim walking towards the pool.

"In the beginning, I actually thought you were my type on paper." He continues as Hope crosses her arms, her eyes skittering back to you and him, you and him, and then solely on him.  
"I was a fool for ever thinking you were as sweet and innocent you pretended to be." You feel your eyes widening. "But I know now that you're anything but innocent." Hope's face reddens even more, if that was even possible, and her arms drop to her thighs. She is paralyzed.

"That's right, Hope, tell them," he spreads the arm he isn't using to hold you, to signal toward the Islander's that are now lingering by the pool, gossiping quietly among themselves.  
"Tell them how you only got with me to play the game. Tell them I caught you talking to the producer earlier about how much money you two would receive if you and I stuck it to the end."

Hope stiffens. Lottie gasps, Marisol's eyebrows furrow in disapproval, Gary is shaking his head, his arms at his hips and Rahim scratches his head, clearly confused.

Instead of shock, hatred has now occupied the place in Hope's eyes. Her shoulders heave up and down from anger. The Hope standing in front of everyone is an entirely different person. No, this Hope.. is the real Hope. You stop to look up at Noah's face. He is livid. And now, you are too as the realization dawns on you.

Hope has been using Noah to fool everyone that she and him are in love when her plan this entire time was to make it to the Final Day, win the cash money, leave Noah and run off with the producer.

"What.. the.. actual.. fuck." You hear yourself say. You manage to rip yourself off from Noah and walk right up to Hope. She backs up immediately, her hands flying up to protect herself. But nothing comes. You don't want to hurt her. Physically, anyway.

"Is this true, Hope?" You hear Lottie ask, suddenly appearing right beside you.  
Hope's eyes feign sadness, her stance dazed and confused. "No, Noah is lying! I swear to you!"  
Noah steps closer, bridging the gap between you and Hope. You can see only the strong of his back but you're completely aware of the anger that is emitting from him.  
"She's lying!" Noah yells, practically screaming. Now, everyone has made it to the poolside.

For a moment, only the birds are making sound. This lasts for only two seconds when you see someone unfamiliar running towards the group. Who is that?  
As if on cue, everybody's head turns to see who is approaching. Hope turns last.  
"Craig?!" She cries, her body automatically starting to crumble.  
Then.. you understand.

  
Craig... Craig, the producer!

  
All at once, cameramen are at your side, lenses pointed directly at you. Mayhem is starting to unfurl as people are talking loudly. Everyone is just now catching on.  
"I SAID TURN THE FUCKING CAMERAS OFF NOW, DAMMIT!" Craig's booming voice fills the space as he pushes crew members off him.  
"Please, don't listen to Noah," Craig begins to grab Noah's arm and tugs him away from the day bed. "He's not on his meds today so he's feeling a little wonky."

Meds? What meds?!

Hope starts to chase after Craig and Noah as you stare blankly ahead at the mess that seems to drastically worsen and increase by the second. You don't move. You can't move.

"Stop it, Craig, get off him!" Hope yells after Craig, eventually catching up to them.

You find your footing and run as fast as you can towards Noah.

All you can think about is Noah and getting to him before anyone else does!

You reach the fire pit where Craig is trying to sit Noah down. Hope's angry voice catches wind and you can barely make out what she's saying.

Noah gets up and pushes Craig out of the way, and Craig stumbles back, but catches himself on the seating area.

"STOP!" Noah screams. Everyone stops.

He is breathing heavily now, and you swear you can hear the sound of his heart beating rapidly out of his chest. Wait, that's your heart. You feel faint.  
Cameras are everywhere, waiting for Noah to speak.

Instead, he breaks down. He sinks to the floor and begins to weep.

  
**Two Weeks Later/Inside Your House**

  
You're sitting down at the kitchen table, phone in hand, scrolling through all the mess that is the tweets, Snapchat stories and Instagram posts. You stop at one post. Footage of that day. Noah is on the floor at the fire pit, crying. Your heart hurts. Everything hurts.

You haven't forgotten, of course.

Almost immediately after Noah broke down, Hope took notice of all the cameras and started yelling at the crew members to turn their cameras off. They did.. after Lottie got involved and threatened to read all of them their tarot card readings. Craig and Hope went off to the side to talk, and all you could recall was cradling Noah in your arms. The next couple of days after that was complete chaos. People being sent home, Craig being terminated, and.. silence from Noah.

Nothing. Not a word.

You ended up taking the flight back home soon and when you arrived back home, people you've never seen before were at your door.

Some people were angry at you for not throat-punching Craig, while some were more sympathetic and repeated, "I'm sorry" over and over again.  
But all you wanted, and cared about, was your bed. To be alone.

Except, until now, that you are seeing Noah on your phone's screen. His torn expression, his worn out body. His tear-stained face. God, he's beautiful.

*Ding-dong*

You sit up. It's the door.

"Mom?" you yell, hoping she's somewhere in the house. No response. She usually gets the door; opening it only to be greeted by fans; ultimately throwing the door in their faces.

This time, she isn't here and you're forced to open the door.

You get up from the chair you were in and walk to the front door.

You're going through the hallway before reaching the door and begin to go over in your head the moments that happened at the Villa.

_Noah's lips on yours the day Priya tried to turn his head. "I need to go," he had said._

_"Have you ever been so afraid to disappoint people that you don't go after what you really want?"_

That is what Noah had said the night of the recoupling. The night you began to piece the puzzle pieces together... the night before it all came crashing down.

You reach the front door, look through the peephole....

Noah.

Your heart stops. You become frozen in your place. What? How? When? Why?

You don't hesitate to try to answer the questions because your hand flies to the door knob and the door practically flies off its hinges as you open it.  
You stand there, hand on the knob, staring back at the boy you fell in love with.. all those weeks ago. Noah is there in front of you, wearing old clothes, hair unkempt, and sporting a 3'oclock shadow.

"Hey, _." He says, his voice raspy as if he hasn't talked in a while.

"Hi." You reply, unsure of what to do or say at this point. Do I invite him in?

You move up against the wall, inviting him inside the house. He walks in, taking his time.

Soon, you two are in the hallway, and he stops abruptly. He turns to you, tears already falling down his cheeks. He's so broken. You're afraid he'll crumple over again onto the floor, breaking down once more and breaking your heart for the millionth time.

But he doesn't.

"We need to talk." He says, seriousness coating his words.

~~~

In the next two hours, Noah had gone on to reveal that after that day, he discussed the nature and future of Love Island with the rest of the crew members and decided that he was no longer interested in partaking in the show any longer. He wanted every footage erased, but the director was against that. They compromised and the footage was erased from all humanity. Noah also revealed that he ended up confronting Hope days later, and she admitted to everything. Behind bars. She had been accused (and proven guilty) of aggravated assault, bribery and money laundering. She got together with Craig before the show even started to form a plan for early retirement- Craig's retirement, of course. Instead, they were found out by Noah, who surprised them at a lonesome corner behind the Villa one day. Craig had met Hope during the auditions and the two became close. Turns out, Noah really was taking medicine. It was for his anxiety and ADHD, and perhaps, now, it all made sense. He always seemed so.. distant on the show. It was due to the meds all along! Of course, Craig used this information to his own advantage and made Noah look bad in front of live television. Noah's mother, bless her heart, took everything by the reigns and refused to let Craig's corrupt plan ruin her son. She was on news channels, broadcasting for the whole world to see, repeating and fighting for her son's reputation. He wasn't sick... he was just poorly misunderstood and needed guidance and understanding. You were shocked when finding this out, of course. You never caught on that Noah was taking meds, let alone fighting anxiety and ADHD. He never said anything. He didn't want you to worry about him, you assumed. He did this all... keeping his mental issues to himself, the insecurities he had about himself to himself, enduring the frustration of having to deal with the fact that he spent all his time in the Villa with Hope.. when he could have spent it all with you.

"... and you know what?" He finally says, a grin beginning to form on his mouth, his eyes sparkling with joy amidst the tears that never seemed to stop flowing.

"What?" You ask, leaning in close to him.

"I would do it all again if that meant being with you forever."

"Forever?" You repeat, your noses almost touching.

"Forever." He says, before crashing into you, his lips meshing perfectly with yours. Your skin is on fire as his hands grab greedily at your face, pulling you into him even more. _Oh, my_ _God, it's like electricity_! You've had mind-blowing kisses before, yes, but.. this? It's like heaven on earth.

He pulls away from you and looks into your eyes. "_, I fucking love you, too." You both giggle and resume kissing, your faces meeting together in romantic harmony.

And with that, you are at ease. You realize now that no game show could ever satisfy you the way Noah does. You agree that, despite the shit you two went through, you would always come back to each other. No matter what curve-ball life threw your way.

And there, sitting at the kitchen table with Noah, you begin to smile.


End file.
